Using the Tools: Part Three
Selling into the IC and the Defense agencies is not easy. Here is part three that will convince you to “up your game” when it comes to tools—in this case, procurement databases and news services, that help you stay on top of events and sales leads.
You may have noticed that I won’t say which one is the best because I believe this has to do with one’s needs and preferences. The best for my situation may not be the best for you.
GovWin is the older service known as INPUT, which had combined with others (i.e., FedSources) to be perhaps the most well known and perhaps the most heavily used. While not inexpensive, this is a premier database of government procurement announcements that tends to go way beyond FedBizOpps. As I have said previously, “time is money” so I consider this to be the kind of database that every professional BD practitioner should have. GovWin is now an acquisition target but this branded procurement data service will only get better for identifying, tracking and helping to research most open procurements. I recommend that you use as many features of the service as you can; you will get a better return if you make a slightly deeper investment, both in time and subscription fee. www.govwin.com
A new comer and surprisingly bright offering is Bloomberg Government’s BGOV service. I phrase it this way getting folks in the federal market to change their ways is challenging. Well, BGOV is worth a very strong look, if you have no service or even it you already have one. If you enjoy news and news alerts like I do, this service will knock your socks off as well as track many intelligence and defense related procurements. Bloomberg is one of the best news coverage organizations in the world and their analysis is superior. You can get a trial license to check it out and I recommend you do. To prove my point, search on the word ‘clearance’ or ‘secret’ to get a feel for the IC procurements that are in the open source. You may be surprised. www.bgov.com
Fedmine is an up and coming database service that tracks historical acquisitions made by the federal government. I love the interface their team has created and the kind of research that can be done is very extensive. Being small and somewhat of a startup, I was impressed with their responsive customer service. If you enter into competitive scenarios, this service will help you to understand who is winning procurements and where; this can be valuable in creating a win strategy in any agency. www.Fedmine.us is definitely worth a strong look.
Remember, the IC and defense agencies are well represented in these services so give it a shot. Let me know how you succeed.
